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Scofield's muse has evolved from guitar standards to post-bop to fusion and back again. (He wears) a gilded robe as the modern messiah of "Ter-minator jazz" KEN MICALEFF, DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE

“…an incredibly resourceful display of devices and strategies… he just burned” THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Scofield combines the chess-champ braininess of his solos with a taste for standard song forms and expansive bursts of volume… a manna for the straight ahead jazz fan” THE BOSTON PHOENIX

“Scofield’s exercise of unconventional playing embraces the kind of musical exploration that drives jazz forward with optimism.” ALL ABOUT JAZZ

WWW.IMNWORLD.COM/JOHNSCOFIELDWWW.JOHNSCOFIELD.COM

john scofieldFor over 30 years the cornerstone of John’s music has been found in The John Scofield Trio. The group includes old friends and longtime musical partners, bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Stewart – three great musicians hitting their stride through invention, playing tight jazz standard and saccy original compositions. Their music embodies the spirit that has kept jazz vigospirit that has kept jazz vigorous and visceral since its birth. “I love to make a real jazz-improvising statement in live situations with two of my favorite musicians,” Scofield says. “It’s really challenging. You don’t rely on arrangements as much as on the way the group plays together. It’s impossible to judge your own work completely,” Scofield says, “but I think this is always some of my best playing.”

One of the "big thOne of the "big three" of current jazz guitarists (along with Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell), Scofield's influence has been ever present for close two three decades. Possessor of a very distinctive rock-oriented sound that utilizes overdrive, Scofield is a masterful jazz improviser whose music generally falls some-where between post-bop, fusion, and soul jazz.

Born in Ohio and raised in suburban Connecticut, Scofield took up the guitar at age 11, inspired by both rock and blues players. A local teacher intro-duced him to Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall and Pat Martino, which sparked a lifelong love of jazz. Scofield soon attended the Berklee College of Music, later moving into the public eye with a wide variety of bandleaders and musicians including Charles of bandleaders and musicians including Charles Mingus, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Hender-son, Billy Cobham/George Duke, Gerry Mulligan, McCoy Tyner, Jim Hall, and Gary Burton. In 1982, he began a three-and-a-half-year stint touring with Miles Davis. Scofield’s compositions and inimitable guitar work appear on three of Davis’ albums.

Scofield began recording as a leader in the late 1970s, establishing himself as an influential and innovative player and composer. His recordings-many already classics-include collaborations with contemporary favorites like Pat Metheny, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Bill Frisell, Government Mule, and Joe Lovano. Through it all, the guitarist has kept an open musical mind.musical mind.

By NATE CHINEN Published: April 6, 2009

Jazz Guitarist in a Gospel-Soul Catharsis

Rahav Segev for The New York Times

John Scofield and the Piety Street Band, with Mr. Scofield, right, on guitar, and clockwise, the pianist Jon Cleary, the bassist George Porter Jr. and the drummer Ricky Fataar at B. B. King Blues Club & Grill.

Groove has always been an essential element for the jazz guitarist John Scofield, expressing itself in ways either subtle or obvious, depending on the setting. “Piety Street” (Emarcy), released last week, falls in the obvious category, with a fortunate twist: it’s Mr. Scofield’s old-time gospel album, recorded in New Orleans with a band drawn mainly from that city’s robust R&B scene. It’s a basic concept, and it makes all kinds of sense.

The same could be said of Mr. Scofield’s staunchly exuberant show at B. B. King Blues Club & Grill on Sunday night. Joined by the core players from the album — the pianist Jon Cleary, the bassist George Porter Jr. and the drummer Ricky Fataar — he played the greater share of its songs, achieving the proper blend of grace and grit. He didn’t sound like a visitor in the realm. He sounded at home and happy to be there.

And crucially, he seemed aware of both the music’s needs and its potential limitations. Instead of navigating fast-moving streams of rhythm and harmony, as in his post-bop bands, he was leaning on a stable firmament. So he dug in deep, often parceling his notes into flinty riffs. When he did

let loose with a digressive chord or a ribbon of arpeggios, it was usually in the heat of full-group catharsis.

The band brought depth and shading to even the most straightforward rhythmic conceit. Much of this was the work of Mr. Porter, known as a member of the Meters, the epochal New Orleans funk band. A canny embellisher, he often created a counterpoint to Mr. Scofield’s leads.

He also sang, notably on “Never Turn Back,” a Thomas A. Dorsey tune that in this version became a sprawling but hard-driving jam.

Chief vocal duties fell to Mr. Cleary, who has an appealingly weathered voice and a smartly soulful attack. (On the album he sometimes yields the floor to John Boutté, a more incandescent singer, but that missing substitution barely registered here.)

In a few songs, including “Something’s Got a Hold on Me,” Mr. Cleary got vocal backing from one or more of his band mates, suggesting the vintage style of a group like the Dixie Hummingbirds. His keyboard playing, on a pair of synthesizers set to evoke a piano and a Hammond B-3 organ, was rollicking and pithy.

Mr. Scofield reinvented some of the songs in the repertory, outfitting “Motherless Child” with sharp new harmonies and bestowing a Celtic tinge on Hank Williams’s “Angel of Death.” But the more satisfying moments were the simplest. “It’s a Big Army,” the set closer, plowed straight into rafters-raising territory, and Mr. Scofield responded with a frolicsome surrender.

 

JOHN SCOFIELD "Piety Street" Emarcy/Decca

Friday, April 17, 2009

JOHN SCOFIELD "Piety Street" Emarcy/Decca

A HOLY BLUES ALBUM from jazz vet John Scofield? "Piety Street," a tambourine-rattling mix of spiritual anthems old and new, certainly qualifies, with Scofield's guitar often leading the choir.

Not that the performances are tradition-bound. Playing songs associated with Mahalia Jackson ("Just a Little While to Stay Here"), Dorothy Love Coates ("That's Enough"), the Rev. James Cleveland ("Something's Got a Hold on Me") and other gospel luminaries, along with a pair of original tunes, Scofield and a band well-versed in New Orleans grooves dish out plenty of Southern funk. Also apparent are reggae and country-music influences -- indeed, Hank Williams's "The Angel of Death" makes the cut -- but from the outset there's a whole lot of testifying going on.

"That's Enough" and "Motherless Child," the album's opening tracks, make it clear that Scofield remains an unabashed disciple of B.B. King. On other cuts, however, Scofield's phrasing is slippery or wah-wah-driven, in sync with Meters bassist George Porter Jr.'s signature pulse and the soulful contributions of keyboardist-vocalist Jon Cleary and singer John Boutte.

Occasionally "Piety Street" brings to mind "That's What I Say," the Ray Charles tribute that Scofield released four years ago. Only this time around the songs were designed to serve a higher purpose. No doubt Charles himself would approve.

-- Mike Joyce

JOHN SCOFIELD Biography

2007-2008

Born in Ohio and raised in suburban Connecticut, Scofield took up the guitar at age 11, inspired by both rock and blues players. A local teacher introduced him to Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall and Pat Martino, which sparked a lifelong love of jazz. Sco soon attended the Berklee College of Music, later moving into the public eye with a wide variety of bandleaders and musicians including Charles Mingus, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Henderson, Billy Cobham/George Duke, Gerry Mulligan, McCoy Tyner, Jim Hall, and Gary Burton. In 1982, he began a three-and-a-half-year stint touring with Miles Davis. Scofield’s compositions and inimitable guitar work appear on three of Davis’ albums. Scofield began recording as a leader in the late 1970s, establishing himself as an influential and innovative player and composer. His recordings-many already classics-include collaborations with contemporary favorites like Pat Metheny, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Bill Frisell, Government Mule, and Joe Lovano. Through it all, the guitarist has kept an open musical mind. Signing with Verve Records in 1995, Scofield released Quiet in 1996, A Go Go in 1997, Bump in 1999, and Works For Me in 2000. With the help of bandmates Avi Bortnick (guitar), Jesse Murphy (bass), and Adam Deitch (drums), Sco adds überjam to his varied discography. Autobiography by John Scofield How I Got From There to Here in 704 Easy Words When I first got into jazz -- around 1969, I came from playing R&B and Soul in High School. Jazz Rock was in its infancy stage and I was lucky enough to be around to experience the Golden Age of both Rock and Soul and see Jazz embrace that movement while I was trying to learn how to play straightahead Jazz. A lot of my early chances to actually gig were in various Jazz/Rock idioms. I got to play "real" jazz with Gary Burton and Gerry Mulligan but my real first "big time" gig was with the Billy Cobham/George Duke band. We got to play in gigantic concert halls and rock venues for excited people who were not necessarily jazz aficionados, but loved the music. After that band ended, I stayed home in NYC and worked on playing acoustic jazz with my own groups and people like Dave Liebman. I also started an ongoing musical relationship with bassist Steve Swallow that continues to this day. As a jazz bassist and real songwriter (not just a composer) Swallow has influenced me as much as anyone. In 1982, I joined the Miles Davis Band, answering the call of funky jazz once again. My stint with Miles made me sure that there really was a kind of music that was both funky and improvised at the same time. After playing with Miles for over three years and making a few more records of my own, I hooked up with ex-P-Funk drummer Dennis Chambers, and we made a group that really utilized funk rhythms. Dennis and bassist Gary Grainger were masters of that "James Brown/ Earth Wind and Fire/ 70's thing". It was great having that underneath my tunes. When I signed with Blue Note Records in 1989, I decided to explore more "swinging" avenues. I got together with my old Berklee School buddy, genius saxophonist Joe Lovano. We had a group and made three albums for Blue Note -- four counting a bootleg from Europe -- that are probably my very best "jazz" endeavors. Part of that can also be attributed to the magnificent drumming of Bill Stewart, who is as good a musician as I've ever met.

Then I felt the urge to get into a soul-jazz thing. I'd been really influenced by the music of Eddie Harris and Les McCann from the sixties. I invited Eddie to guest on the album Hand Jive. This was about the same time that Larry Goldings entered my music on Hammond Organ. With the collective possibilities of these musicians, I began to allow jazz to blend with New Orleans type rhythms to make the music groove. Around this period, I also worked and recorded some with Pat Metheny -- one of the great guitarists. He and Bill Frisell are my favorite guitar players to play with and listen to. But then there's also Jim Hall and Mike Stern and Jim Hall and John Abercrombie and Jim Hall and Kurt Rosenwinckle and Jim Hall and Peter Bernstein... not to mention Jim Hall. And then there's also Albert King and Carlos Santana and Tom Morello and all the other ones I can't summon the names of right at the moment. When I heard Medeski, Martin and Wood's record "Shack Man", I knew I had to play with them. They played those swampy grooves and had a free jazz attitude. These guys are serious conceptualists and are able to take the music to beautiful and strange places. I love what they did on AGoGo. In the last couple of years, I've heard some great young players that remind me often of what it is that I like so much about the music of sixties R&B. Now I'm able to take that music and mix it with jazz all over again. I'm having more fun playing now than I ever have and I feel like I can finally really learn to play the guitar. Now, after having the chance to play with many of my musical idols -- I'm getting inspiration from younger musicians. I'm as excited about writing and playing music as I ever have been.

Listen Now [13 min 25 sec]

Add to Playlist Weekend Edition Sunday, November 18, 2007 - Nowadays, guitarist John Scofield is largely known for his funky side. He's worked on the fringes of jazz-rock and released discs incorporating the dense grooves of Medeski, Martin & Wood, as well as members of Sex Mob and Soul Coughing. A recent Scofield album paid tribute to soul man Ray Charles.

But Scofield developed his chops by playing with the likes of Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan and Charles Mingus. His new CD, This Meets That, finds Scofield largely back in his swing element. It features the other members of what he calls his "A-Team" trio — bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Stewart —plus a hard-blowing four-piece horn section.

"We covered some kind of rock tunes," Scofield says, "and there are other tunes that are kind of funky. But I think the swing feel wins out for the majority of the music."

John Scofield spoke with Liane Hansen about his new album, and brought out his guitar for a special solo performance.

On This Meets That, Scofield used the opportunity to bring to life some songs which aren't particularly associated with jazz — for example, "House of the Rising Sun," popularized by The Animals.

"It's one of these anthems that everybody learns when they're learning to play the guitar, and I did in 1960-whatever when it came out," Scofield says. "It turns out kids today still learn that four-chord progression when they're just picking up the guitar."

Guitarist Bill Frisell makes a guest appearance on the song, despite his initial apprehension. "We were talking about that as we recorded it, 'cause I said I wanted to do this, and he says, 'Oh, you've got to be kidding,'" Scofield says. "And then we both realized, you know, that it was almost the first song either of us had ever learned."

John Scofield: Funk Finds Its Swing

Nick Suttle

John Scofield's new album features jazz covers of famous rock tunes, like "House of the Rising Sun" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."SCOFIELD'S SONGS

Following his interview with NPR, John Scofield performed a solo version of a song from his new album:

Songs from This Meets That:

'BEHIND CLOSED DOORS'

ADD TO PLAYLIST

'HECK OF A JOB'

ADD TO PLAYLIST

'SATISFACTION' (ROLLING STONES COVER)

ADD TO PLAYLIST

"When I write a tune -- and it's been like this for many years -- I always hear in the back of my head some sort of vague, orchestrated, fully fleshed-out big-band version of the

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Scofield also used the record to expand the size of his ensemble, something he says he's always wanted to do.

"When I write a tune — and it's been like this for many years — I always hear in the back of my head some sort of vague, orchestrated, fully fleshed-out big-band version of the song with other parts going on," Scofield says. "And I never really get to get to that really often because I'm usually playing with trios and quartets on the road, you know, for economic reasons, too."

Not that Scofield abandons the highly groove-oriented jams which have won him acclaim in recent years. He dedicates one tune called "Heck of a Job" to the New Orleans funk band The Meters, a group which led him to see the entire diaspora of New Orleans music.

"The Meters are, I think, the most influential group in our time to come out of New Orleans, to have changed and introduced us all to a way of playing, and to a groove and a level of feel in playing funk-jazz," Scofield says.

Scofield left NPR with a solo performance of "Behind Closed Doors," a tune written by country artist Charlie Rich. Though the music of Rich doesn't enter most jazz fans' minds, Scofield says that he draws inspiration from the vocal phrasing of older country music in his improvisation.

"Everybody thinks country is this, soul music is this, jazz is this, folk music is this, and they all take on these social groups and whatever," he says. "But I just always loved that song, and I always loved roots-country music — people like Charlie Rich."

Related NPR Stories Nov. 2, 2006 Four Jazz Names Are More Fun Than One Jul. 21, 2005 Scofield Plays Ray Charles: 'That's What I Say' Jun. 18, 2005 A Jazz Guitarist Interprets Ray Charles Classics Jun. 5, 2005 A Brief Tour of Summer Music Festivals Feb. 27, 2002 John Scofield's 'Uberjam'

John Scofield

song with other parts going on."

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Review Courtesy AllAboutJazz.com

This Meets That John Scofield | Emarcy/Universal

By John Kelman

It was inevitable. Guitarist John Scofield has, for the past decade, alternated regularly between albums aimed at the groove-centric (and broader) demographic he first captured with A Go Go (Verve, 1998) and discs appealing to a more committed jazz audience. Scofield has always represented a unique combination of advanced harmony, allowing him to seamlessly migrate between playing “in” and “out,” visceral funk and blues concerns. The “This” and “That” music, referred to in the title This Meets That, is even more broad-reaching than usual, but Scofield has finally assimilated his multiplicity of musical interests, making this one of the best records of his career.

It’s the same core trio from EnRoute (Verve, 2004)--bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Stewart--but it couldn’t sound more different. With the addition of a four-piece horn section and material ranging from swing to funk and free territory to country (with a bit of altered rock and roll thrown in), Scofield has never sounded more divergent yet, curiously, more himself. Swallow and Stewart have always been known for their individual musical breadth and abilities to combine firm pulse and telepathic interaction with whomever they’re playing, but here, they make as perfect a team with Scofield as can be imagined.

Scofield’s tone ranges from the clean warmth that dominated most of EnRoute to the grittier tone of albums like That’s What I Say (Verve, 2005). And while it doesn’t overwhelm the disc, some of the processing that he began using with his Uberjam band on albums including Up All Night (Verve, 2003) can be heard as well, most notably on his solo intro to the Celtic/Americana-infused “Down D.” He applies a little wah-wah envelope filter to the funky Second Line tinged “Heck of a Job ” where

the horns both broaden harmonically and punctuate.

Scofield has scored for horns before, but on the comfortably swinging “Strangeness in the Night” the four horns sound more like a big band, while taking “Down D” to harmonic territory that can only be described as “Sco.” A trio version of the country classic “Behind Closed Doors,” plays it straight at the outset, but Scofield ultimately makes it his own with a lyrical, behind-the-beat solo.

Scofield revisits “Pretty Out,” from his collaboration with Bill Frisell, Grace Under Pressure (Blue Note, 1992), but this time it’s even farther out, with a free-time middle section featuring open-ended solos by both Sco and Stewart. Frisell returns for a guest appearance on an up-tempo remake of the classic “House of the Rising Sun,” avoiding shtick with a new bridge section and significant reharmonization that’s reverent yet distinctive.

Scofield comes closer to that shtick with his rocking version of The Rolling Stones' “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” but just when it seems that there’s little to be done, he injects some beautiful close-voicings on guitar that are matched in slight dissonance by the horns, making it a perfect closer to an album where, indeed, This Meets That.

Track Listing: The Low Road; Down D; Strangeness in the Night; Heck of a Job; Behind Closed Doors; House of the Rising Sun; Shoe Dog; Memorette; Trio Blues; Pretty Out; I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.

Personnel: John Scofield: guitar; Steve Swallow: bass; Bill Stewart: drums; Roger Rosenberg: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet; Lawrence Feldman: tenor saxophone, flutes; Jim Pugh: trombone; John Swana: trumpet, flugelhorn; Bill Frisell: tremolo guitar (6). CD Review Center | Upcoming Release Center

Piety Street John Scofield | EmArcy (2009)

By Doug Collette John Scofield's Piety Street is an exercise in musicology, but it's also much more than that. Without sacrificing the prominence of his electric guitar playing—just utilizing it from a different perspective—this gospel blues album further demonstrates how he has executed similar fusions, in altogether different contexts, throughout his extensive 36-album career.

Just as Scofield doesn't play in an obvious way, simultaneously staccato and fluid, so, too, does he pursue his renewed interest in blues from an unusual angle. "That's Enough" sounds like a simple declaration of faith, but what's noteworthy about the track is the supple means by which Scofield plays around the vocals— that's in addition to the shimmering sequence the guitarist/bandleader sprinkles upon the thick cushion of organ on "The Angel of Death."

Scofield's fond appreciation of the well-wrought compositions on Piety Street does not come at the expense of improvisation. The guitarist's forte goes on display in the low-key reggae ride-out of "Motherless Child," which leads logically into "It's a Big Army," the arrangement of which is as straightforward as a shuffle can be. The insistent pace there further quickens through the interplay of Scofield with keyboardist/vocalist Jon Cleary and, later in the track, a snappy percussion interlude that serves to highlight the massive yet somehow unobtrusive bottom supplied by George Porter Jr. The famous bassist's coupling in rhythm section with drummer Ricky Fataar (like Cleary a member of Bonnie Raitt's band) is on prominent display in the mix—clean and uncluttered, to accentuate the simplicity of the material.

Scofield fans, and those curious about the concept of Piety Street, will find some songs familiar—"Ninety Nine and Half," "I'll Fly Away"—and some not so much, like the limber instrumental, "But I Like the Message." And while there will certainly be those who long for more Scofield guitar and more extensive jamming, as on the serene "The Old Ship of Zion" (the sole 12-bar tune here), there's abundant nuance in the consistent intros Scofield supplies to presage the vocals throughout the album.

Given this man's fondness for the rhythmic aspect of playing, going back through his "Uberjam" phase, and his work with Medeski, Martin and Wood—as well as with mid-'80s Miles Davis and the '70s Billy Cobham/George Duke aggregation—it's no surprise "Never Turn Back" has more than just a suggestion of syncopated funk. There's a tangible sense of joyful release in the musicianship here—extracted, no doubt, from the sound of songs like "Just a Little While to Stay There," which provides continuity from Piety Street to John Scofield's work under his own name and with others: each and every one is suffused with passion.

May 2009

John Scofield - Piety Street EmArcy By Jeff Tamarkin

Prediction: At some point in the not-too-distant future, a JazzTimes scribe will bring this CD to a session for a Before & After column and spin a track from it. Whichever unsuspecting musician is charged with identifying the chosen tune, even if he or she has long been familiar with John Scofield’s guitar, won’t come close. Simply put, Scofield has never made a record quite like Piety Street, a gloriously reverent paean to classic black gospel as practiced by such masters as Mahalia Jackson, Thomas A. Dorsey, Dorothy Love Coates and that old favorite, Traditional—with a Hank Williams tune (“Angel of Death”) and one Scofield original tossed in for good measure.

For the project, Scofield virtually overhauls his style, jettisoning contemporary technical aids and displays of virtuosity for a straightforward blues-based approach brimming with economy, joyfulness and soul. Aligning with New Orleans bassist George Porter Jr., drummer Ricky Fataar, percussionist Shannon Powell and, most significantly, vocalists Jon Cleary (who also supplies keys) and John Bouttè, Scofield exuberantly surveys the repertoire of the black church and its close relatives in blues and soul.

Although Scofield has before demonstrated his affection for those roots sounds—just four years ago he released a tribute album to Ray Charles—those who’ve championed Scofield’s more cerebral innovations over the years may come to Piety Street with a certain amount of wariness, perhaps thinking it a novelty. It’s not, and its honest righteousness and sweet spirit should easily win over all but the most hardheaded. And, of course, the guitar playing—even if it’s often a ringer for B.B. King or Pops Staples—is never less than godly.